Dedicated



P. A. YODER AND L. E. LONGLEY.

\ CANE STRIPPING'COMB.

APPLICATION mm sun 1. 1919.

l ififim I Patented Nov. 25, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l- P'. A. Y ODER AND L. E. LONGLEY. CANE STRIPPING COMB.

APPLICATION FILED IULY 7. I919.

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CANE STRIPPING COMB.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 7. 191 9.

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PETER A. YOIDER, OF WASHINGTGN, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Ahl'D LEWIS E.LONGLEY, OF MOSCOW, IDAHO; DEDICATED, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO II-IEGOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND TO THE PEOPLEOF THE UNITED STATES.

CANE-STRIIPPING COMB.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Nov, 25, 1919,

Application filed July 7, 1919. Serial No. 309,228.

(FILED UNDER THE nor on MARCH 3, 1883, 22 STAT. I.., 625.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, PETER A. YODER and Lnvvrs E. LONGLEY, citizens ofthe United States, residing in Washington, District of.

cow, Idaho, respectively,) have invented a I new and useful Improvementin Cane-Strip ping Combs.

This application is made under the act'of March 3, 1888, chapter 143 (22Stat. L., 625) and the invention herein described and claimed may beused by the Government of ployees in the prosecution of work for theGovernment, or any person in the United States without payment tons ofany royalty.

This invention relates to a comb, the object of which is to provide asimple and efiicient means for stripping leaves and other waste materialfrom cane, sorghum and other vegetable stalks;

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of thisspecification, in which like numerals designate like parts inall theviews Figure 1 is a front view of the entire machine, showing two combsmounted, one on each side of the rack.

Fig. 2 shows an end view of the same.

Fig. 3 shows the preferred form of comb, almost completely assembled.

Fig. i represents another comb, completely assembled.

Fig. 5 is a perspectivc view of a portion of the comb. v

Fig. 6 shows another form of the comb construction. y

Fig. 7 is a plate fastened to the top of the rack, rovided with openingspermitting the insertion of the teeth of the comb and having a strippingedge.

Fig. 8 1s a modified form of the plate shown in Fig. 7.

Figs. 9 to 17 show different forms of construction of the teeth of thecomb.

form of the the United States or any of its oflicersorem- Figs. 18 to 22show types of blocks used to provide spacing and fastening of theteethrof the comb and to furnish an additional cane stripping edge. Fig.18 is a sectional view through the center of the block; Fig. 19 is asectional side view of the block; Fig. 20 is a perspective view oftheblock; Fig. 21 is a sectional view through the center of a special typeof block shown in per spective in Fig. 22, by which the comb is fastenedto the rack.

The rack 1 constitutes the frame work of the machine upon which aremounted the cane stripping. combs 2. The rack consists of a top bar 3 towhich the combs are; fastened, which bar is supported by legs orstandards 4, together with braces The rack is put together in a usualand well known manner, as with bolts or screws. The rack is alsoprovided with a cane supporting frame 6, which is attached tothe rack atany convenient point, preferably by meansof flexible joints 7 Thissupporting frame serves the purpose of. preventing the cane stalks frombreakingfover the comb from their own weight during thestrippingoperation. U Q The comb consists of teeth 8, which are made of suitablemetal, such as steel, the

cured, is 3 inches.

The stripping blade may be of any suitable shape, width, and thickness.The blade should be as thin as is compatible with the necessaryrlgidity. It'h'asbeen found that when constructed of steel a thicknessof onesixteenth of an inch issufiicient and effective.

It is preferable to assemble the comb separately and then attach it tothe top bar 3 of the rack. In assembling the comb prostrippingpart'ofwhich projects asuitable vision must be made to hold the teethrigidly at a suitable distance apart. One way of accomplishing this isto provide blocks of the necessary thickness to fit between the bladesof the teeth,'as illustrated in Fig. 18.

,"lhesc blocks 9 may suitablybe made of metal, as cast steel, shaped asfurther illus 'trated in Figs. 18, 19, and 20. The blocks are providedwith transverse holes 10, to admit of bolting them together. with theteeth, through similar holes 11 inthe teeth of the comb. To providefurther stripping edge to the comb the upper end of these blocks may beshapedinto a projecting edge 12, which edge is curved to approximate theshape, of a cane stalk; To provide means for fastening the comb .to thebar 3' of the rack certain of these spacingblocks 13 are of heavierconstruction and provided with holes 14, through which bolts can bepassed, fastening the assembled comb to the rack.

, In these blocks the stripping edge may also be provided as is donewith the ordinary spacingblocksishown in Figs. 18, 19 and 20.

A suitable width for these'blocks and consequently for'the space.between: the teeth I has been found, for the particular crop Japanesecane, generally to be about13/16; If desired, some wider spaces may bebuilt into the same comb in the same mamier byfusing.

wider blocks, to alford means of stripping occaslonal stalks of unusualthickness, as is ,done'in Figs. 3 to 6. For crops. with different sizestalks a different spacing in the teeth'is required and, can readilybeprovided in. a similar way.

Aform of construction of thecomb requlrlng 1n its construction lesselaborate shop equlpmentis shown in Figs. 4: and 5, in

40. 1andtheteeth 16 may becut in a simple manner from straps of metal,like strap iron, as shownin Fig. 14:. \By first bendlng which thespacing blocks 15 may be of wood the teeth over, at right angles one end17,

"as shown in Figs, 15 and. 16, the comb may then be assembled asfollows; a, block 18,

. fwhichmay also be of woodis nailed to a timber 19, and then a toothset against this block, and. a spacing block 15 nailed to the sametimber 19, and soon additional teeth and, spacing blocks assembled, andfinally another block of suitable size nailed against the last tooth atthe other end. Toifurther The completed comb thus assembled. may

hold these teeth place, a board 20 is nailed in front of the teeth and21 at the'b'ottom.

then be bolted by suitable bolts 22. to the rack. If desired, theseteeth maybe cut tapering in the projecting part, as shown in Fig. 17.The, Width of the spacing blocks 1 15 is governedby the thickness of thestalks,-

of the crop to be stripped by the comb, as in the previously describedplan for the construction of thecomb.

A further improvement in the last de scribed plan of constructing thecomb consists in providing an additionalstripping edge for thebottoms'of the spaces between the teeth of the comb, which may begdone byconstructing. a metallic plate23, with slots 24:, through which theteeth may pro rject,this plate being fastened to the parts cutting themout of sheet metal in ashapej ..-s1m1lar tothat shown in "Fig-'11, i nbending them into: a shapeshown in Fig. 12, in which there is a sectionof metal 26, which provides additional stiffening to the stripping edge.r v j In operation a number of stalks,-'as many as maybe convenientlyhandled by the operator, are taken and laid on the comb in a manner, sothat the individual stalks may drop between the teeth 'of the comb and Ithen drawn, tops-first, through the comb,

and if necessary, this operation repeated oneor more tlmes. In actualpractice with Japanesecane 1t. has been found that from 2 to 3 timesdrawing the bunch of cane across;

the ,comb will sufiice to remove the trash as nearly completeas isusually done by more tedious methods now in vogue stripping one stalkata time. The advantage of the device here described consists in handlinga considerablenumber of stalks at onetime, and thus effecting av greatsaving of time and labor over methods heretofore used.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the construction, operation andmany advan tages of the herein described invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art,- without further description, and it will beunderstood that various changes in thegsize, shape,

proportion, and minor details of construe-L.

tion may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificingany of theadvantages of the invention; i

What we claim isz In a cane stripping machine, a frame comprisingstandards, horizontally disposed connecting means for the upper ends ofthe tures in the presence of two subscribing witstandards, a combsupported on either side nesses.

of the said connecting means, and compris- PETER A. YODER. ing a seriesof vertically disposed cutting Witnesses:

6 blades, and uprights with suitable connect- A. J. DECKER,

ing means adapted to be used as a support J. S. CARR. for cane stalks,said uprights being attached LEWIS E. LONGLEY. to the said standards insuch a Way as to Witnesses: give stability to the cane strippingmachine. C. C. VINCENT,

10 In testimony whereof We aflix our 'signa- C. V. SOHRACK.

